Open Up Your Eyes
by Wattbox
Summary: Juniper would be a normal wolf, working in a normal office, writing a normal newspaper; but she takes an interest in Phantoms. You may call her an apologist, but she claims to only be seeking out the truth of their demise, who created them, ect. But after so long of studying a species you adopt their mentality. You think like them, you move on your thoughts.


p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"Phantoms are evil."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"Phantoms are bad."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"They are made of anger and sadness."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"They are ruthless killers."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"History is history, you must learn so you never repeat it. That will never change."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"But like all things, it did./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Change is a natural part of life, such is history. But not repeating is not required./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper didn't believe them. Never had. Her siblings Glow and Rosy, however did. She always was rebellious. She knew people were changing history. She knew the Alphas were changing history. She didn't believe what she was thought was the primary source. Merely the first draft to a story./p  
blockquote  
p style="margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"emAnd tonight folks, we pose a question to you. How do you believe the Phantoms were created? Do you think Zios made them or Mira? Do you think they attacked us or we attacked them? Send us your answers and you might be featured in the next issue of The Sarepia Post!/em/p  
/blockquote  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""We can't publish this, Juniper! I've told you a thousand times, the only history-related things you can write must be set in fact! New discoveries! Lie, for all I care!" The eagle fluttered above her, throwing down the papers./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Have you ever considered the fact that what you were taught might have been a lie, Boss?" she pondered, attempting to sound like she was just thinking outloud and not sassing him./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Have you gone insane, Juniper Coldjoy?" Juniper only coldly looked up at him while she gathered her papers, now torn with his talons. "Of course not! I wasn't taught whatever lies about the Alphas attacking first and Zios being heartbroken over Mira that they're teaching preschools now-a-days!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper just rolled her eyes and knocked her papers together, "Whatever you say, sir."/p  
h2 style="font-size: 22px; margin: 0.75em 0px; line-height: 1.16; font-family: Gibson, 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; color: #444444;"em…/em/h2  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper always was the rebel of her siblings. She kicked her bag back onto her back. Her paws were sunken into black mud. The putrid scent of the mist that surrounded her was caught in her throat and she wasn't sure she'd ever smell correctly again./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She had a habit of breaking and entering./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"There were rumors that the Phantomlands hosted a library the Alphas had attempted to destroy in The Great War./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She had no map. No idea where she was going. No weapons but her claws. Hardly enough food to last a night out here and she hadn't seen anything she could qualify as edible. She didn't trust the few red berries- the only splash of color out here- to not be poisonous./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She had a feeling her pads were turning black. She felt like she had been walking for days. But she'd seen nothing to be considered an enemy, which was a plus./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Not long after thinking she should start eating the mud before she died of dehydration, she found the old near-destroyed building. In front, there was a fallen and splintered sign./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"em"Spring Harbor Library- home of Zios' Phantoms."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper blinked, smiled slightly, and quickly kicked down her bag, dragging out her journal to copy it. She scooted inside, careful not to stab herself. The scent of old books and ash filled her lungs, and she'd never been more happy to smell the remains of a fire./p  
h2 style="font-size: 22px; margin: 0.75em 0px; line-height: 1.16; font-family: Gibson, 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; color: #444444;"em…/em/h2  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Boss! Boss! Sir!" /p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""This'd better be important, Juniper." the eagle was still flying into the building./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""It is, sir! I swear!" she panted, "Alright so, just a few days ago I went off to find the Phantom Library-"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""And you didn't find it, because it doesn't really exist?" he unlocked the door to his office with a talon, kicking open the door. Juniper bolted in and dumped her findings out on his desk. She opened her journal and played with an old compass she figured doubled as a bookmark./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""No! I found it! It was called the Spring Harbor Library and these are all notes I took! Sir, this could change everything! I-"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Juniper, you do realize I don't believe you, right?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""But– sir, the proofs all here! See look, I-"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""No, Juniper. I think you could just as easily have faked this. I think that if the Alpha's found out they'd kill you. Or exile you and leave you to die in those Phantomlands you love so much."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She felt her ears heat on the back of her neck as she pushed them down./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""And I think you're eminsane. /emQuite frankly, I'm scared of how far you went out of your way to fake this."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She felt her brows furrow together. "I didn't emfake/em it! It's all complete, authentic history I found! And I am emnot insane!"/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""With your reaction I find that hard to believe. Let's see, what are you getting paid for again? Hmm–"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She placed her front paws on his desk, "Oh, I'll show you eminsane, /emsir."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Hmm?" His tone quickly turned into a pained squawk and Juniper lunched for his throat. He flew upward, knocking the sides of her head with his powerful wings. But her grip didn't loosen. He clawed at her throat, yet she still didn't release him./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Eventually a young intern raccoon found them and must've called police, because the next thing Juniper knew was her hips being clawed into by an otter. She couldn't tell if the substance she felt on her jaws was blood or foam. Either way she didn't get to check before the black-vested otter aimed what must have been some kind of drugged needle-like bullet./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Next thing she new her vision turned into black spots, then fully black, and she fell onto the floor./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"But not before she heard the words of "he is dead," cross her ears and feel herself smile./p  
h2 style="font-size: 22px; margin: 0.75em 0px; line-height: 1.16; font-family: Gibson, 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; color: #444444;"em…/em/h2  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"It was all over the news the next day./p  
blockquote  
p style="margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"em"Rabid wolf attacks eagle!"/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"em"Loved Juniper, Sarepia Post writer? Now see what she's done!"br /em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"em"Rabies in the workplace!"br /em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"em"A new meaning to newspaper covering death!"br /em/p  
/blockquote  
p style="margin: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper was fully aware of what had happened when she woke up in the hospital. Rosy wouldn't stop whispering some prayer. Glow kept telling her it was all okay. She didn't believe either of them./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"emShe never did./em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Doctors didn't diagnose whatever rabies media thought she had. They simply said, "Sometimes canidae foam at the mouth from too much excitement or physical activity. She must've been just trigger-happy."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"So that was that./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper knew she'd never get a job again. She knew she'd never be able to buy anything again. She knew parents would shield their children everytime they saw her and she knew no one would look at her the same./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"So she accepted it./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"And she emembraced/em it./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She spent her days cooped up in her small room, dedicated to her Phantom work. Crafting theories upon theories, diagrams upon diagrams, words until it'd turned into chicken scratch./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Everyone was terrified and she emloved/em it./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Once Rosy came into her room to see her. The only light were candles. The wallpaper was ripped to shreds. Journals and photos were thrown around the room. It almost looked like Juniper had been robbed./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"And, in a sense, she had./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""J-June… are you…?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Have you ever thought about the fact that there's so much Phantom merchandise that skyrocket in sales despite everyone being told they were evil?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She emerged from the shadows of a corner. Her orange irises were small, her pupils smaller. They were bloodshot. They looked red./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Perhaps it could be commercialism. But why would businesses try to capitalize on something thought to be emwrong/em, hm?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Her sister looked around the room in shock, taking her words into account. She looked back at the figure she couldn't recognize as kin anymore./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""You're-" hot ears were pressed on the back of her neck, fur stood on end. "You're insane!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper sat and let out a small laugh. "Oh, I'm not insane. I'm a writer. I'm a writer who wishes to spread truth into the world. If people don't want to accept that, then so be it."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She with all her studies were gone the next morning. People were too scared to look for her. Glow tried to get a missing person report into the paper. But no one wanted to trace a murderer./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Years passed. Some thought the world was finally rid of her. Some thought she was just living somewhere on the outskirts of Jamaa that had yet to be found. Some thought she was the Phantom's problem now./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"One day Glow and Rosy decided to try to follow. They started in the Phantomlands./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"It was either their greatest stroke of luck or misfortune./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Pawsteps were found in the mud. Quickly fading. No other scent than rotenone flesh and passed rain./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"A gray stripes wolf in a black suit of armor stalked a penguin who had wandered to far into her territory. It's cries of help were enough to muffle whatever sound she knew she wouldn't make. She leaped. And the deed was done./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Moments later Glow and Rosy approached. They recognized a stripe on her face and tail./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Juniper had changed. For better or worse, you decide./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Her eyes were narrow. Her fur was sleek. She was well-muscled. She looked above the two of them, menacingly. Her voice was colder, and showed no sign of picking up emotion./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""It's best you two kits get out of here before something happens."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""But, June! Don't you remember us?" Glow muttered, "We're your siblings!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"She nodded. "I could never forget the scent. But kin means nothing here."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Glow caught the shine in her eye. She was ready to kill again. If the Phantoms had managed to corrupt her that must have been her new instinct./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Maybe we should get going, Rosy."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""J-June… do you want to come back with us?"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Why would I ever return? I'm a killer there. I have rabies there. I'm insane there."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""No you aren't! Those-those rumors have faded!"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""Don't lie to me." She somehow seemed to grow larger, "leave before the King finds you."/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""emRosy./em Come emon."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""June, please…"/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"A loud growl. Rosy was pushed to the ground on her back. Juniper raised a claw and dragged it down her stomach. Glow tried to yell but no sound came. The blood pooled out of her. As soon as it reached Juniper's paws it swirled in purple magic and became black goop./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""What a good night's catch," she murmured, licking her lips, ready to spring again. "Though I could make it embetter…"/em/p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"Glow felt his knees lock./p  
p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;""I told you to run, kit. span style="font-weight: bold;"emYou had better start…"/em/span/p 


End file.
